The purpose of this proposal is to sponsor a conference at which a group of outstanding scientists will attempt to define important directions for future research on the biochemistry and molecular genetics of collagen. We now have a wealth of information about the chemistry and biology of collagen. The availability of this information, as well as several unusual features of collagen, make it an ideal protein to use as a model for research on the mechanisms by which the function of complex animal cells are regulated and controlled. At the same time it has recently become apparent that the revolutionary new techniques of "recombinant DNA" make the collagen genes directly accessible for use as tools for highly sophisticated experimentation. Therefore research on collagen at the protein level and at the DNA level is at a stage where we can anticipate major discoveries in the very near future. The conference proposed here has an unusual format modeled after the highly successful Dahlem Conferences organized by Dr. Silke Bernhard in Berlin. The invited participants will include experts from a variety of different fields of biochemistry, biology, and medicine, who will be charged with examining in depth both specific questions dealing with collagen and general questions which have broad implications for the study of all proteins and genes in man and other eukaryotic organisms. The conference will consist largely of small group discussions, thus providing maximal opportunity for exchange of ideas and opinions about the present status and the future of research on collagen and on related topics of biochemistry and medicine. In order to make the conference as useful as possible to other scientists, a monograph summarizing the proceedings will be published.